CFPB Calls For Increased Transparency, Reveals Searchable Consumer Complaint Data About Mortgages

By Gretchen Wegrich

The Consumer Financial Protection Agency wants you. After launching a Consumer Complaint Database during summer 2012, today the CFPB released an additional 70,000 consumer complaints --ranging from mortgages to student loans and other consumer loans --and asked the public to make some sense of it.

"By sharing these complaints with the public, we are creating greater transparency in consumer financial products and services," said CFPB Director Richard Cordray. "“The database is good for consumers and it is also good for honest businesses. We believe the marketplace of ideas can do great things with this data."

The data makes up the nation's largest public database of federal consumer financial complaints. The CFPB is offering consumers a chance to analyze 90,000 individual complaints about various financial products and services.

The complaint data references approximately 450 companies. Although the consumer's identity is protected, the information includes the type of complaint, the date of submission, the ZIP code of the consumer and the company that the complaint is about.

The aim of the database is to provide greater transparency by allowing the public to view what consumers complained about and why. The companies' responses --or lack thereof -- will also be made public.

The agency is releasing the data in multiple formats. The data includes mortgage complaints, complaints about bank accounts and services, private student loan complaints, complainst about other consumer loans, and specific details about the product each complaint is about, such as the type of mortgage.

The database is updated daily, but only includes data which the company has responded to or which was submitted more than 15 days earlier. 

"We encourage the public, including consumers, analysts, data scientists, civic hackers and companies that serve consumers, to analyze, augment, and build on the information in the database to develop ways for consumers to use the complaint data or mash it up with other public data sets to reveal potential trends," said Scott Pluta, assistant director for the office of consumer response at the CFPB.

The public is encouraged to use the hashtag #CFPBdata and tweet findings and comments to @CFPB.

An application program interface will enable developers to create applications, conduct analyses and perform various research on the data. In addition, consumers will be able to create visualizations, charts and graphs, as well as embed the data on other websites or share via social media.

The CFPB intends to use the data in a variety of ways, including helping the agency to prioritize the complaints it investigates.

The expanded Consumer Complaint Database went live today at: www.consumerfinance.gov/complaintdatabase

To file a complaint, consumers can:

• File online at www.consumerfinance.gov/Complaint;

• Call the toll-free phone number at 1-855-411-CFPB (2372) or TTY/TDD phone number at 1-855-729-CFPB (2372);

• Fax the CFPB at (855) 237-2392; or

• Mail a letter to: Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, P.O. Box 4503, Iowa City, Iowa 52244.

Gretchen Wegrich

Gretchen Wegrich is an editor at Lender411. She specializes in mortgage basics, personal finance and green living. She graduated with a bachelor's degree in writing from University of California, San Diego and previously worked at the Santa Cruz Sentinel. Contact her at gretchen@lender411com.